Justin Long on Apple Ads

[Daringescape]

Complainers

The the people who are "offended" are the only ones you will hear about in the media. They dont want to report on happy stuff/people it doesnt get ratings.

 

[SteveRichardson]

oh GOD, 20?!


please make it stop...

Meh, it was effective enough to get in the LA Times...

...the only reason why I didn't like the campaign at first was because I thought it was dull and everyone would pass it by as if it were just another commercial. But according to this article, it sounds like it has generated some definite interest...which, imo, is a good thing.

effective does not mean good. ever heard of negative attention?

those ads suck...admit it. they are AWFUL.

(bring back the feiss)

 

[freeny]

Worst Apple ads ever. You attract more flies with sugar than vinegar, and Apple's all about the vinegar.

Elitist elitists

 

[centauratlas]

I find it amazing he's never used a computer before doing the Mac ads. But he uses a Mac now, and that's all that counts.

The funny thing is that on Leno last week (week of Aug 7) he said he didn't care what he used - I don't recall his exact quotation. He was somewhat amusing on there with stories about people coming up to him.

 

[BobVB]

No it won't convert the PC fanboys or the increasingly popular 'I can be offended quicker than you can' crowd but I really doubt those are the target audience. The ads are humorous and hit exactly the kind of audience from which 'switchers' come from - those dissatisfied with their PC experience.

Apple isn't trying to take over the entire computer market - way too many people you wouldn't want as customers in that crowd. Just getting the kind that do find the commercials humorous and 'on the mark' with the added controversy the commercials themselves spawn is probably more than enough. Look at this thread - if I'd were leaning towards Macs and ran into the PC sourpusses here I'd get one just to provoke them further. Humorless people need to be taunted and provoked at every opportunity - they will either grow or explode, both steps up.

 

[freeny]

Interesting article on how the Apple ads are turning off potential buyers in the recent InfoWorld. I blogged my thoughts on the campaign and WWDC here.

Apparently Apple is turning on more then it is turning off if you judge by their rising market share.

You cant make everyone happy. You also cant deny the adds are working.

Using the ploy where you show your cool, hip and better then the competition is an advertising angle that has been both used for decades as well as working to sell your product-

Pepsi vs. Coke (Pepsi was a smigeon of what Coke was before they began poking fun at Coke)
Chevy vs. Ford (Talk to any one who is an American truck enthusiest and they will be on one side or the other. Chevy and Ford have been prodding each other forever)

Burger King vs McDonalds vs Wendy's (Wheres the beef? Was one of the biggest ad campains ever and all it did was make fun of the competition)

I could go on and on but I hope you get the point

If you are going to judge Apple by its ads and not its products you are completely missing the point. I suggest you protest and go out and switch to a pc.

 

[laidbackliam]

When Apple aired those Intel ads of the Intel fab plant talking about dull PCs, a lot of PC users got angry over that. There was quite a backlash against Apple when they do negative advertising like that, simply making PC users look stupid (which they are of course ).

that ad was directed at apples base customer though. not all the new ones they plan on getting.

 

[peharri]

Excellent advertising...

...if you're selling soap.

If you're selling computer platforms though, it's a major mistake. The days of the Amiga may be long behind us, but people do still feel strongly about their choice of computer, they do become personally attached to what they got, and this isn't like the car industry where there are so many manufacturers you can do a little spoofing of your competitors without anyone feeling it's directed at them.

Car analogies are old hat so if you'll forgive me, I'll use a sports analogy instead. I don't really know sports, except to know that fans of teams tend to be just as irrational as fans of computer platforms. By which I mean the entire spectrum of fandom tends to be represented. But everyone does, in the end, whether it's a team or a computer platform, end up opinionated and either loving or hating it.

Imagine the following. You're Apple's ad agency, and you've been hired by the Reds, the local sports team. A few miles away is the home of the Blues, and in your town, the Reds make up the team affiliation of about 80% of the population, with the Blues making up the other 20%. There's a degree of rivalry between the teams.

The Reds want more people coming to their stadiums. They need increased revenue ticket sales. The only people to attract now are the Blues. The Blues obviously like your sport, otherwise they wouldn't have chosen a team in the first place, but they're not willing to consider, as yet, seeing Red team games. How do you attract Blue supporters?

If you're Apple's ad agency, your ad goes something like:

Blue: "I'm a blue player"
Red: "And I'm a red player"
Blue: "Duh. I can kick this ball, duh, look" (*kicks at ball several times, finally actually hitting it the 7th time*)
Red: *smugly bounces a ball on knee* "Red scored the highest last season, and we're consistantly the best team"
Blue: "Hey! Hey, watch this" *attempts to balance ball on nose, ball consistantly rolling off and away. Blue chases after ball*
Red: *Kicks ball up, bounces on knee, headbutts it, and catches it with one hand behind him* "We have some really skilled players"

(Ad continues ad-nausium. By which I mean it's an ad that makes you nauseous.)

Now, another approach might be to run an ad that consists of a bunch of shots from your stadium. You show some pretty good playing, stuff people will find impressive and will have wished they saw. You show the Reds most often, but, hey, there are two teams in every game. In other words, instead of taking sides based upon the team, you show people that if they come to your stadium, they're going to have a good time. They're going to see some impressive playmanship. Even if it's not their team, there's reason for them to want to go and see the next game.

Which type of ad would sway you? Which type of ad would get you to go to a stadium owned by your team's rival?

The current "I'm a Mac" series doesn't work because it appeals to fanboism, but in doing so, it also ends up being fanboism's victim. It doesn't appeal to PC owners, it just cements existing Mac user's sense of superiority. Except me. I cringe every time I see them.

 

[freeny]

...if you're selling soap.

You are wrong.
Proven by Apples rising market share.

You cant keep saying that these ads are hurting apple if they keep selling more and more computers.
It makes no sense.

I dont find the Apple guy smug at all. I find him very confident and sure of himself.

 

[SteveRichardson]

You are wrong.
Proven by Apples rising market share.

You cant keep saying that these ads are hurting apple if they keep selling more and more computers.
It makes no sense.

Not because of these commercials.

 

[freeny]

Not because of these commercials.

Then by what? Thes ads certainly arent hurting Apple.

 

[AvSRoCkCO1067]

Not because of these commercials.

Honestly, neither of us is a marketing guru. However, we both do know a few things:

1) Apple's market share has been increasing recently (simultaneously with its Intel transition and introduction of new ads)

2) Apple recently claimed that it believes market share has been increasing partially because of these ads at its recent quarterly report.

3) Apple has committed millions of dollars to both developing these ads and paying for them to be seen on both popular television programming and internet websites.

I'm sure Apple and its marketing team knows better than we do - they wouldn't keep showing these ads if they believed they had a negative effect on the marketplace.

Then by what? Thes ads certainly arent hurting Apple.

Exactly - enlighten us. How do you know why its marketshare has increased as of late? Neither me nor freeny claim that its SOLELY because of the ads - but how can you prove that the ads haven't convinced 1 single switcher...?

 

[i.Feature]

...if you're selling soap.

Imagine the following. You're Apple's ad agency, and you've been hired by the Reds, the local sports team. A few miles away is the home of the Blues, and in your town, the Reds make up the team affiliation of about 80% of the population, with the Blues making up the other 20%. There's a degree of rivalry between the teams.

The Reds want more people coming to their stadiums. They need increased revenue ticket sales. The only people to attract now are the Blues. The Blues obviously like your sport, otherwise they wouldn't have chosen a team in the first place, but they're not willing to consider, as yet, seeing Red team games. How do you attract Blue supporters?

If you're Apple's ad agency, your ad goes something like:

Blue: "I'm a blue player"
Red: "And I'm a red player"
Blue: "Duh. I can kick this ball, duh, look" (*kicks at ball several times, finally actually hitting it the 7th time*)
Red: *smugly bounces a ball on knee* "Red scored the highest last season, and we're consistantly the best team"
Blue: "Hey! Hey, watch this" *attempts to balance ball on nose, ball consistantly rolling off and away. Blue chases after ball*
Red: *Kicks ball up, bounces on knee, headbutts it, and catches it with one hand behind him* "We have some really skilled players"

(Ad continues ad-nausium. By which I mean it's an ad that makes you nauseous.)

Now, another approach might be to run an ad that consists of a bunch of shots from your stadium. You show some pretty good playing, stuff people will find impressive and will have wished they saw. You show the Reds most often, but, hey, there are two teams in every game. In other words, instead of taking sides based upon the team, you show people that if they come to your stadium, they're going to have a good time. They're going to see some impressive playmanship. Even if it's not their team, there's reason for them to want to go and see the next game.

Which type of ad would sway you? Which type of ad would get you to go to a stadium owned by your team's rival?

The current "I'm a Mac" series doesn't work because it appeals to fanboism, but in doing so, it also ends up being fanboism's victim. It doesn't appeal to PC owners, it just cements existing Mac user's sense of superiority. Except me. I cringe every time I see them.

I disagree totally. People buy superiority. Thats what a good portion of the population wants. Thats why peop;le buy designer clothes. Thats why people buy fancy cars. Thats why people buy expensive jewelery. Thats why people stay at 5 star hotels. People want to feel like they are better than everyone else or they've made better choices.

Not everyone of course. But there are alot.

 

[SteveRichardson]

Exactly - enlighten us. How do you know why its marketshare has increased as of late? Neither me nor freeny claim that its SOLELY because of the ads - but how can you prove that the ads haven't convinced 1 single switcher...?

I'm not claiming to say that these ads have hurt or helped boost the market shares...I'm only saying that I have only heard negative things about them.

I feel embarrassed watching them.

I personally believe that the market share has risen because of the intel switch. The ads happened to come out at the same time so it's impossible to know how they've affected the market share, but either way I really don't like them. It's not the actors either... definitely the elitist script.

I like that Shaun White ad where he narrates what he does with his computer and this stunt guy (you can only see his torso) is reaching and grabbing at nothing that was edited later to appear as if what he was grabbing at were his folders/documents/songs/etc... Pretty clever. And no snobbishness (yeah that word rocks) either.

Did I mention I like Ellen Feiss?

 

[SteveRichardson]

I disagree totally. People buy superiority. Thats what a good portion of the population wants. Thats why peop;le buy designer clothes. Thats why people buy fancy cars. Thats why people buy expensive jewelery. Thats why people stay at 5 star hotels. People want to feel like they are better than everyone else or they've made better choices.

Not everyone of course. But there are alot.

Porsche never created a commercial with a dude representing a Porsche telling a dude representing a Hyundai that all Porsche vehicles are superior to Hyundai vehicles.

Yves Saint Laurent never created a commercial with a dude representing Yves Saint Laurent telling a dude representing clothing sold at Wal Mart that all Yves Saint Laurent clothing is superior to Wal Mart's clothing.

The Four Seasons Hotel never created a commercial with a dude representing The Four Seasons telling a dude representing Days Inn that The Four Seasons Hotel is superior to the Days Inn.

All of these "top-of-the-line" companies create advertisements showing their products in the best light possible, without resorting to childish arguments of who's better.

 

[kalisphoenix]

[H]e is fending off computer geeks who either find his Mac guy righteous or maddening.

The fact that someone was apparently paid to write this makes me weep.

 

[peharri]

You are wrong.
Proven by Apples rising market share.

Nonsense. Apple is selling a lot of computers right now because Jobs Osbourned the entire PowerPC range just over a year ago by announcing the switch to Intel. For each model of Mac, sales were artificially low before the Intel version was launched, and artificially higher after.

Additionally, people are happer buying Macs if they know they can switch back to Windows if it doesn't work out. One of the major barriers to owning a Mac has been removed by the Intel switch (whatever my misgivings on the subject.)

It's simply ridiculous to argue that the ads have helped sales. Sales would be much higher now than they would have been six months ago even if Apple had stopped advertising completely. The question is whether they would be even higher if they weren't insulting their target audience. The answer, of course, is yes.

 

[Abulia]

You are wrong.
Proven by Apples rising market share.

You cant keep saying that these ads are hurting apple if they keep selling more and more computers.
It makes no sense.

Sure, they're selling more computers this quarter in spite of the ads.

They (the ads) have only been out, what, two months? Sales for the last quarter were in the bag before those commericals came out. Let's see how the next quarter is?

 

[peharri]

I disagree totally. People buy superiority. Thats what a good portion of the population wants. Thats why peop;le buy designer clothes. Thats why people buy fancy cars. Thats why people buy expensive jewelery. Thats why people stay at 5 star hotels. People want to feel like they are better than everyone else or they've made better choices.

Not everyone of course. But there are alot.

How is the above disagreeing with me? You're saying people like to feel like they've bought superiority. And yet here's Apple coming along telling everyone that they haven't. Not only that they haven't, but that their choice was bad for a lot of reasons that, quite honestly, are untrue and that the buyers know are untrue.

Now, of course, you could be saying that Apple should sell itself as the superior platform. But that doesn't require being insulting to do that. You can easily say "These are the benefits of Macintosh" without saying "...and anyone who doesn't buy one is a gray, boring, clone." Just as my game example: you want the "Blues" to feel that it's worth going to the Red stadium because they will have a good time. Because they will see a quality game. You'll not get them there if you insult their team. If you ridicule their choices. If you ridicule them.

I've met too many people who find Apple's ads insulting and contrary to their own experience to believe that these ads are helping them in any way. Right now, Apple can sell itself as a great platform. Instead, it chooses to alienate its target audience. That's bad.

 

[freeman24]

I think the Apple adverts are ingenious! (did i spell that right?) i have to admit it made me turn to apple.

 

[Snowy_River]

Worst Apple ads ever. You attract more flies with sugar than vinegar, and Apple's all about the vinegar.

I strongly disagree. These ads are based on humor. Humor seems more like a sweet enticement than a sour one.

Oh, and by the way, it's honey, not sugar.

I'm not claiming to say that these ads have hurt or helped boost the market shares.

Well, actually you are:

Not because of these commercials.

That seems pretty much like your denying the possibility that they have helped, explicitly.

...I'm only saying that I have only heard negative things about them.

I feel embarrassed watching them.

Well, you know, that's your experience and your issue. I find them funny. Everyone I know finds them funny. And that includes a number of PC users, including IT professionals. The only person who didn't quite let himself laugh openly about them is my dad, and he has a personal bias against Macs.

 

[AvSRoCkCO1067]

Nonsense. Apple is selling a lot of computers right now because Jobs Osbourned the entire PowerPC range just over a year ago by announcing the switch to Intel. For each model of Mac, sales were artificially low before the Intel version was launched, and artificially higher after.

Additionally, people are happer buying Macs if they know they can switch back to Windows if it doesn't work out. One of the major barriers to owning a Mac has been removed by the Intel switch (whatever my misgivings on the subject.)

It's simply ridiculous to argue that the ads have helped sales. Sales would be much higher now than they would have been six months ago even if Apple had stopped advertising completely. The question is whether they would be even higher if they weren't insulting their target audience. The answer, of course, is yes.

They sold how many macs last quarter? Over a million, right? How many boot camp downloads have they had....?

Of course the ads have helped sales - the question is, how much. Are you seriously implying that no advertising WHATSOEVER would increase sales...?

 

[Mal]

Considering Apple just announced at WWDC that 50% of the Macs purchased in their retail stores were people that were new to Macs, I'd say that's a pretty good indication that the ads aren't hurting them, at least. I personally love the ads, as does my fiance. They're witty, funny, and rather annoying to the hard-core PC fanboys, which I think is a very good thing. I don't know how many times I've heard very similar arguments (the ones that John Hodgeman gives in the ads) from my hard-core PC fanboy friends. I also have friends that think they need to warn me about every "virus" that comes out, and I'm always sending them back messages both telling them that the messages they're getting are hoaxes (I've even given them the website to check them against, but they never learn) and also that I can't get any of the viruses they're worried about, but it seems they never get it. This ad campaign could do them a lot of good.

jW

 

[foneschlomo]

Creating a Premium Brand

These brands do not have to overtly say that they are superior to a Kia, because that is accepted by most people. The average person invests more time thinking about cars, houses and clothing than they do about computers- face it, we're geeks. Apple is attempting to create, for themselves, a premium image that goes beyond people who are invested heavily in this kind of decision. Similar to when premium beers started hitting the market, or premium mens skin care products. Many people will tell you they prefer sam adams, though if pressed to tell you why it is better, many couldnt come up with good reasons (maybe taste). Same with Skin Care. I dont use the store brand stuff anymore, but I coudlnt tell you why the brand I use is really better- I know little about that stuff, so I have to go based on product claims. Most people arent that sensitive that they are going to cry when a commercial implies their purchase isnt as cool as someone elses.

Beer commercials do frequently point out that their competitors beers are crap- in a crowded market, you have to give customers hueristics. Computers are something that people put research into, but generally do not even understand what all of those things mean- trust me, I've been involved in many computer purchases for relatives and friends.

 

[bowens]

When Apple aired those Intel ads of the Intel fab plant talking about dull PCs, a lot of PC users got angry over that. There was quite a backlash against Apple when they do negative advertising like that, simply making PC users look stupid (which they are of course ). It harkens back to the days, post-1984 ad, when they shown PC users as lemmings walking off a cliff. Hehe.

I loved that ad. Jack Bauer (Kiefer Sutherland) talking about Apple computers. How much better can it get?

By the way, 24 is the most addicting show I've ever watched.